Architect Rogers wins Pritzker prize

Los Angeles TimesThe Baltimore Sun

LOS ANGELES -- Richard Rogers, an Italian-born Englishman who wields political influence as a liberal member of Britain's House of Lords and the unpaid chief of the London city government's Architecture and Urbanism Unit, was named the winner yesterday of the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the profession's leading award.

Rogers' signature buildings over the past 30 years include heralded temples to art (the Pompidou Center museum in Paris, co-designed with Renzo Piano), commerce (the Lloyd's of London insurance tower), entertainment (the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, England) and transportation (a new terminal at the Madrid, Spain, airport).

The $100,000 Pritzker prize has been awarded since 1979 by the Chicago-based Hyatt Foundation - established by the Pritzker family, whose business is the Hyatt hotel chain - and goes to a living architect for career achievement rather than for a specific building.